


In The Sound

by ReaganJenelle



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Jealous Nico, Nico is a Dork, Quests, Romance, Shadow Travel, Slow Burn, Underworld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:25:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaganJenelle/pseuds/ReaganJenelle
Summary: It was a simple task, really. The hard part was getting it off Nico without him noticing. Truth be told, I wasn't worried. I was, after all, a daughter of Hermes.





	In The Sound

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've decided to age Nico. He is now 15 instead of 13 at the beginning of The Lost Hero. Sarah Wark is 16, like Percy.

Standing at the base of the rock wall, I clapped my hands in front of me. The group of trainees was a large one made mostly of new arrivals aging anywhere from ten to seventeen. After the second Titan War ended and Percy Jackson asked the gods to claim their children, the camp had nearly doubled in size. As counselor to the Hermes Cabin, it fell on me to show them around until they were claimed and sent off to their rightful cabin.

"Who here can tell me what this is?" I asked gesturing behind me. 

"A rock wall?" A scrawny girl squeeked from the front of the group. 

"True, but it's more than that. This is one of the things here at Camp that will help teach you how to survive beyond camp borders." I told them. "Today, we are going to attempt to get to the top without serious burns. I'll demonstrate how it's done, then you'll all form a line and make an attempt."

After a few mumbles of understanding, I made sure my wild red curls were still mostly in the braid before starting to scale the towering wall. Years of practice allowed me to swing my body up and around different obstacles in my way. I was a third of the way up before the quaking started. Wedging my foot into a cracked, I flattened myself against the rough surface when a particularly large rock tumbled down. Someone cried out bellow me as red hot lava began to ooze from different cracks in the wall. Smirking to myself, I lept from side to side between foot holds before reaching the top, slamming my hand on the button, and perching on the top with my legs dangling over. 

Applause rang from bellow me. I smiled and offered a mock bow before quickly climbing back down the now still and lava free rock wall. 

"If you get up there and feel like you can't make it the rest of the way, make sure you don't panic. I will be ready to assist anyone should they need it. Who's first?"

In the end only three people needed my help, and only two got injured. No one quite managed to scale the whole thing without getting a little singed. All in all, it was a nice afternoon. With only a few hours left before dinner, I released my campers to spend the rest of the afternoon doing whatever they wanted. 

Knowing I could find Conner and Travis at the camp store, I walked across the camp waving to a few other half-bloods along the way. A slight breeze found its way into the valley, bringing with it the scent of strawberries from the fields. It was a nice day to kick back. As I had expected the two brothers were rummaging through the store, restocking on prank supplies. 

Travis spotted me first. "Hey, Sarah."

I grinned at him. Connor and Travis were, hands down, the most mischievous out of all my siblings. Their penchant for practical jokes made me aspire to get more creative with mine, and team up with them from time to time.

"How'd the rock wall go?" Connor asked while pocketing a can of shaving cream. 

"Not bad. Anderson cried." I told them, leaning against a shelf. 

"Almost makes me wish we had come to watch." Connor said with an impish grin. 

After Luke left and a counselor was needed for Cabin Eleven, the Stoll brothers convinced me to take the position. I, like most everyone, had expected them to share the position. Chiron had been pleased when they passed it up claiming it would get in the way of more important things, i.e pranks. 

"What's on the agenda today?" I asked after the boys had finished browsing and payed for half the items they had grabbed.

"Why, dear Sarah, tis challenge day!" Travis cried in his best impression of Chiron.

"Already?" I asked. "I feel like we already held it this week."

Challenge day was something the three of us had started a few years ago. Once a week two of us would give the third a task to complete. If you couldn't complete the task in three days, the other two got to choose a penalty for you. I made the mistake of not completeing my list once, and payed for it with my eyebrows. 

"It's Sunday." Conner said simply. "When you loose, your going blonde." 

I shuddered at the thought. "What makes you so sure I'm going to loose?"

"We have a surprise for you this time." Conner said, a devilish grin in place.  

"Nico's back for a few days." Travis said with a look that perfectly matched his brothers. "And you have to get his ring, without him knowing."

"I hope you like platinum." Conner added.

"Peice of cake." I said arrogantly. 

 

That night at dinner, I found myself watching the son of Hades as he sat alone at his father's table. Nico and I had been good friends when he first arrived at Camp Half-Blood. When he ran away I only saw him a handful of times after that. Once after the battle of the Labyrinth, and then again when we fought side by side in the second Titan War. After that Nico had been busy building a cabin for his father, and I had been busy helping new campers settle in. He was so different from the naive boy who first arrived in Apollo's chariot. 

 

_I watched in excitement as Percy, Thalia, and about twenty others clambered out of a shuttle bus that had been flying over the lake moments ago before crashing just off shore. Steam rolled off the water and half melted canoes bobbed. Pulling my sweater tightly around me, I trekked through the light snow towards the group._

_"Percy!" I yelled with a wave._

_When he spotted me, he grinned. "Hey Sarah."_

_I reached the group. More than half was made up of girls carrying bows and tanned leather bags. The Hunters of Artimis had visited once before  a few years ago, and I recognized Zoe. Percy stood next to Thalia who looked like she had just run a marathon. Grover was there, but he kept his eyes on the large group of girls. The last person in the group made my smile turn mischievous._

_"Uncle."  I said._

_Apollo shook his head playfully. "Hey, Sarah. I've got my eye on you."_

_"You know Apollo?" Percy asked._

_I grinned imishly. "Sure. My first quest was to steal a cow from him."_

_"Like father like daughter." Thalia snorted._

_A boy with black hair moved by Percy's side. He looked to be about a year younger than me._

_"New camper?" I asked him._

_"I'm Nico. Did you really steal a cow from Apollo?" He asked with a smile._

_"Sure did. I can take him from here, Percy." I said, gesturing for Nico to join me. "Later, Uncle Apollo."_

Nico looked like a different person. His once short cropped hair now fell into his eyes, his skin had lost its olive tint from his time spent in the shadows, and he was quite a bit taller than me. 

If I wanted to get Nico's ring, that meant getting close enough to him to slide it from his hand without him noticing. Mind made up, I got up from my place next to Connor, and walked across the Pavillion. The closer I got to Nico, the more stairs I drew. Annabeth raised her eyebrow at me. I smiled in return. 

Nico looked up when I sat across him, his dark eyes guarded.

"Hey, Nico."

"Hi."

"It's been awhile. How's the new cabin?" I asked, ignoring the look he was giving me. 

"It's fine." He paused. "Not as crowded as yours."

I couldn't help but laugh. As the only child of Hades, Nico had the cabin to himself. "It's not bad any more. Everyone even has their own bed."

The last time Nico had been in Cabin Eleven was after the battle of the Labyrinth. Because it was the middle of summer, every bed was taken, and the floor had been over flowing with sleeping bags. 

A slight smile curled in the corner of his mouth. "Shouldn't Chiron be scolding you for sitting here?"

I waved him off. "I was your counselor until you got your own cabin. Besides, I could always blame it on my father being the god of travelers."

Nico didn't reply, so I started eating. I watched as he picked at his food. Three years ago, Nico wouldn't have stopped talking. Now he seemed comfortable to sit in silence. Discreetly eyeing his ring, I tried to think of a way to get it from him. Connor and Travis had really thought up a hard one. There was no way I was going to loose. Blonde just wasn't my look.


End file.
